Philosophy for a New Age

New philosophies arose in the Hellenistic period, all asking the same question: “What is the best way to live?” They recommended different paths to the same answer: individuals must achieve inner personal tranquility to achieve freedom from the disruptive effects of outside forces, especially chance. It is easy to see why these philosophies had appeal: outside forces—the Hellenistic kings—had robbed the Greek city-states of their independence in foreign policy, and their citizens’ fates ultimately rested in the hands of unpredictable monarchs. More than ever, human life seemed out of individuals’ control. It therefore was appealing to look to philosophy for personal solutions to the unsettling new conditions of Hellenistic life.

Hellenistic philosophers concentrated on materialism, the doctrine that only things made of matter truly exist. This idea corresponded to Aristotle’s teaching that only things identified through logic or observation exist. Hellenistic philosophy was divided into three areas: (1) logic, the process for discovering truth; (2) physics, the fundamental truth about the nature of existence; and (3) ethics, how humans should achieve happiness and well-being through logic and physics.

One of the two most significant new Hellenistic philosophies was Epicureanism, named for its founder, Epicurus (341–271 B.C.E.). He settled his followers around 307 B.C.E. in an Athenian house surrounded by greenery—hence, his school came to be known as the Garden. Epicurus broke tradition by admitting women and slaves to study philosophy in his group.

Epicurus’s key idea was that people should be free of worry about death. Because all matter consists of tiny, invisible, and irreducible pieces called atoms in random movement, he said, death is nothing more than the painless separating of the body’s atoms. Moreover, all human knowledge must be empirical, that is, derived from experience and perception. Phenomena that most people perceive as the work of the gods, such as thunder, do not result from divine intervention in the world. The gods live far away in perfect tranquility, ignoring human affairs. People therefore have nothing to fear from the gods.

Epicurus believed people should pursue true pleasure, meaning an “absence of disturbance.” Thus, people should live free from the turmoil, passions, and desires of ordinary existence. A sober life spent with friends and separated from the cares of the common world provided Epicurean pleasure. Epicureanism thus challenged the Greek tradition of political participation by citizens.

The other most prominent Hellenistic philosophy, Stoicism, prohibited an isolationist life. Its name derives from the Painted Stoa in Athens, where Stoic philosophers discussed their ideas. Stoics believed that fate controls people’s lives but that individuals should still make the pursuit of excellence their goal. Stoic excellence meant putting oneself in harmony with the divine, rational force of universal nature by cultivating good sense, justice, courage, and temperance. These doctrines applied to women as well as men. Some Stoics advocated equal citizenship for women, unisex clothing, and abolition of marriage and families.

The Stoic belief in fate raised the question of whether humans have free will. Stoic philosophers concluded that purposeful human actions do have significance even if fate rules. Nature, itself good, does not prevent evil from occurring, because excellence would otherwise have no meaning. What matters in life is striving for good. A person should therefore take action against evil by, for example, participating in politics. To be a Stoic also meant to shun desire and anger while calmly enduring pain and sorrow, an attitude that yields the modern meaning of the word stoic. Through endurance and self-control, Stoics gained inner tranquility. They did not fear death because they believed that people live the same life over and over again. This repetition occurred because the world is periodically destroyed by fire and then re-formed.

Several other Hellenistic philosophies competed with Epicureanism and Stoicism. Philosophers called Skeptics aimed for a state of personal calm, as did Epicureans, but from a completely different basis. They believed that secure knowledge about anything was impossible because the human senses perceive contradictory information about the world. All people can do, the Skeptics insisted, is depend on perceptions and appearances while suspending judgment about their ultimate reality. These ideas had been influenced by the Indian ascetics (who practiced self-denial as part of their spiritual discipline) encountered on Alexander the Great’s expedition.

Cynics rejected every convention of ordinary life, especially wealth and material comfort. The name Cynic, which means “like a dog,” came from the notion that dogs had no shame. Cynics believed that humans should aim for complete self-sufficiency and that whatever was natural was good and could be done without shame before anyone. Therefore, such things as bowel movements and sex acts in public were acceptable. Above all, Cynics rejected life’s comforts. The most famous early Cynic, Diogenes (c. 412–c. 324 B.C.E.), wore borrowed clothing and slept in a storage jar. Also notorious was Hipparchia, a female Cynic of the late fourth century B.C.E. who once defeated a philosophical opponent named Theodorus the Atheist with the following remarks: “Anything that would not be considered wrong if done by Theodorus would also not be considered wrong if done by Hipparchia. Now if Theodorus punches himself, he does no wrong. Therefore, if Hipparchia punches Theodorus, she does no wrong.”

Philosophy in the Hellenistic Age reached a wider audience than ever before. Although the working poor were too busy to attend philosophers’ lectures, many well-off members of society studied philosophy. Greek settlers took their interest in philosophy with them to even the most remote Hellenistic cities. Archaeologists excavating a city in Afghanistan—thousands of miles from Greece—uncovered a Greek philosophical text and inscriptions of moral advice recording Apollo’s oracle at Delphi as their source. Sadly, this site, called Ai-Khanoum, was devastated in the twentieth century during the Soviet war in Afghanistan.